Wafa Sultan in the Sunday Times of London

'Until I came to United States I used to believe that Jewish people are not human creatures,' she says. 'Unfortunately this is the way I was brought up, to believe that Jews don't have our human features, they don't have our human voices.'

'The Jews have come from tragedy and forced the world to respect them,' she said, 'with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling. 'We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.'

She noticed that 'there are too many verses in the Koran which say you must kill those who are non—Muslim; you must kill those who don't believe in Allah and his messenger. I started to ask: is this right? Is this human? All our problems in the Islamic world, I strongly believe, are the natural outcome of these teachings. Go open any book in any class in any school in any Islamic country and read it. You will see what kind of teachings we have: Islam tells its followers that every non—Muslim is your enemy.'

In fact, Sultan's long intellectual journey has brought her to a radical conclusion: that reform of Islam is impossible. 'Muslims have been hostages of their beliefs and their teachings for 14 centuries,' she says. 'I believe the time has come and the truth should be spoken. I know that I am waging a very difficult war. It is going to take years. I might not be able to see it in my life, but I am strongly sure that the next generation will see the fruits of my writing and my message.'

'Until I came to United States I used to believe that Jewish people are not human creatures,' she says. 'Unfortunately this is the way I was brought up, to believe that Jews don't have our human features, they don't have our human voices.'

'The Jews have come from tragedy and forced the world to respect them,' she said, 'with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling. 'We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.'

She noticed that 'there are too many verses in the Koran which say you must kill those who are non—Muslim; you must kill those who don't believe in Allah and his messenger. I started to ask: is this right? Is this human? All our problems in the Islamic world, I strongly believe, are the natural outcome of these teachings. Go open any book in any class in any school in any Islamic country and read it. You will see what kind of teachings we have: Islam tells its followers that every non—Muslim is your enemy.'

In fact, Sultan's long intellectual journey has brought her to a radical conclusion: that reform of Islam is impossible. 'Muslims have been hostages of their beliefs and their teachings for 14 centuries,' she says. 'I believe the time has come and the truth should be spoken. I know that I am waging a very difficult war. It is going to take years. I might not be able to see it in my life, but I am strongly sure that the next generation will see the fruits of my writing and my message.'